


Nothing Left Unsaid

by KahtyaSofia



Category: Torchwood
Genre: Character Study, Gen, One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-11-25
Updated: 2009-11-25
Packaged: 2017-10-03 18:02:24
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 829
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20817
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KahtyaSofia/pseuds/KahtyaSofia
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jack reflects on the one thing he DOESN'T regret.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Nothing Left Unsaid

**Author's Note:**

> In the wake of Exit Wounds, it's easy to get bogged down in the sad bits. Just remember, Jack did at least one thing right this past season. Cranked this puppy out in 30 minutes waiting for the day to end. Un beta'd.

Jack didn't really like the dark any more. He didn't like closed spaces. The Hub, usually his refuge, held nothing but painful memories now. It seemed to echo with the shouts and laughter of Tosh and Owen, both of whom where lost to Jack now. That thought felt like a gut punch, like someone was ripping his heart from his chest with their bare, blunt fingers.

He heard Ianto sigh beside him. Tonight was a sleepless night for the young man. It seemed to Jack that Ianto vacillated these days between stress-caused insomnia and depression-caused marathon sleeping. He'd not been able to identify the triggers so he never knew from one night to the next what Ianto was going to endure. All Jack could do was hold him, whatever his state. And hold him Jack would. Realistically speaking, the comfort was mutual. Holding Ianto, letting him cry for the loss of his friends in the dead of night was the least Jack could do for him.

This was the first time in their brief history together that both of them were in need of comfort at the same time. Previously they had been fortunate to only have one of them in crises at a given time. First, Jack dragged Ianto back from the abyss after the Lisa incident. Then Ianto silently supported Jack after the loss of Estelle. Jack fought back Ianto's nightmares after he was held captive by the cannibals. Ianto countered by holding Jack together after Suzie had died the second time. More recently Jack had eased Ianto through the ghosts he had battled after the Night Travelers had come, only to hold on to Ianto for hours on end after Gwen had stirred up the hornets nest of Flat Holm. With the loss of Tosh and Owen they were both damaged. They were both battered and bruised and in need of comfort. Jack refused to wallow, though. As strong as Ianto was, he needed a little extra something right now to keep going.

Jack knew he was lucky he had ever met Ianto. He was lucky to have Ianto in his life at this juncture. Jack was very lucky he hadn't lost Ianto right along with Tosh and Owen.

If the worst had happened though, Jack would have absolutely no regrets where Ianto was concerned. There were few things in his long life that Jack could say that about. More frequently, the opposite was true.

Jack's long days and months at the hands of the Master during the 'year that never was' had given him time to think. All he could do was think, when he wasn't battling through whatever horror the Master had cooked up for him or just trying to hang on to his sanity. More often than not Jack's thoughts had strayed to Ianto. During those dark moments he'd realized how much he'd taken Ianto for granted and that he wanted to get back to him to make it right.

When Jack had finally made it back he'd told his team and he'd told Gwen that he had come back because of his pride in the work they did everyday. He'd watched as Gwen had displayed her engagement ring in an almost challenging fashion, daring Jack to declare feelings for her he didn't feel. The one he _did_ have those kinds of feelings for got asked out on a date at the first opportunity and once he accepted, Jack never looked back.

It took some time to get through the wall Ianto had built around himself in Jack's absence but he'd done it. The final brick had tumbled down the night before they had had to send Tommy back. After that, Jack had done everything short of getting sappy or maudlin to let Ianto know how deep his feelings ran and just how much he needed Ianto. They were both men more suited to actions than declarations so it was a good fit.

Jack didn't want to think about it over much but he was very aware how easy it would have been to lose Ianto. Had the worst come to pass though, Jack would have been able to console himself with knowing that nothing between them had gone unsaid. Ianto would have known in his last moments what he'd meant to Jack and that he would be missed. He'd learned many lessons at the hands of the Master but that had been the biggest one of all. Ianto was too special to spend his life thinking he was any less consequential in any ones life than he really was.

In a life filled with many regrets, Jack Harkness realized that if his legacy was to have loved and been loved by Ianto Jones, then he was finally learning to do things right. With all that he had to atone for in his long life Ianto would not be on that list simply because Jack had made sure there was nothing left unsaid.


End file.
